Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy Training for Working with Autistic, ADHD & Gifted Adults
Neurodiversity CPD for Counsellors & Psychotherapists
On late diagnosis, giftedness, and working well with neurodivergent adults
A significant portion of any therapy caseload is neurodivergent today: autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, or gifted, whether the client arrives with the words for it or not.
This CPD is built for that exact work. Not neurodiversity as an abstract topic to be aware of, but the practical difference it makes in the therapy room: how someone can mask their way through a whole session, why a standard reflective silence might land as an overwhelming demand, and what changes when you stop reading intensity as something to treat.
Training Structure: A Two-Part Approach
Part 1: Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice for Counsellors, Foundations
Format | Live 2.5-Hour Workshop (Online via Zoom) |
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Who It Is For | Trainee and qualified counsellors across all therapeutic modalities (Integrative, Person-Centred, Psychodynamic, CBT, and systemic). |
Fees | Full rate: £50, Early-bird rate: £42 Early bird rate is available up to 4 weeks before the training date using the code EARLYND |
Maps the shift from a medical deficit view to neuro-affirming practice. Designed as an accessible standalone workshop, it delivers immediate adaptations you can experiment with in your very next session. While the principles apply across the entire neurodivergence spectrum, this foundational session focuses specifically on Autism, ADHD, and AuDHD.
Most neurodivergent adults who reach counselling have no diagnosis. Waits for NHS adult assessment are long, and many people mask their traits well. This means counsellors are often already working with neurodivergence without knowing it. The workshop gives them the language, the ethical framing and a simple practical method to work affirmingly from their very next session, while staying clear that counsellors do not diagnose.
Core focus areas include:
- Vocabulary & Paradigm Shift: Moving from deficit checklists and medical models to precise and affirming neurodiversity frameworks.
- Understanding Individual Presentation: Recognising why "functioning" cannot be read from observable behavior alone, and being aware of hidden autistic and ADHD masking.
- Practical Modality-Neutral Tools: Applying adaptable, practical techniques that fit naturally within your existing therapeutic approach.
- Ethical & Relational Considerations: Navigating power, consent, and the impact of standard therapeutic interventions (like reflective silences) on neurodivergent minds.
Upcoming Cohorts:
- Monday 7th September 2026 — FULLY BOOKED
- Wednesday 9th September 2026 — FULLY BOOKED
- Saturday 14th November 2026 (9:30am to 12pm) — BOOK HERE
Join the waitlist below to be notified first when the next dates open.
Part 2: Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice for Counsellors, Late Diagnosis, Giftedness and Trauma
Format | Live 6-Hour Workshop (Online via Zoom) |
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Who It Is For | Trainee and qualified counsellors across all therapeutic modalities (Integrative, Person-Centred, Psychodynamic, CBT, and systemic). |
Fees | Full rate: £120, Early-bird rate: £100, Ratcliff & Brown rate: £85 |
Overview
Part 1 was where we set out the ideas and the method, tried some adjustments, and worked a couple of cases together. Part 2 gives all of that a full day of its own: the same method, more knowledge, more practice, and more time on the situations that are genuinely harder to read.
We spend the day with what people often bring with them, and give proper room to the parts Part 1 could only touch on. The grief that can come with being recognised late. The tiredness that sits under masking, and the burnout that builds when someone has held it all together for years. AuDHD, and why it is more than autism and ADHD side by side. Giftedness and twice-exceptionality, which get missed so often that many gifted people never find a counsellor who thinks to ask. And the overlap between neurodivergence and trauma, which is genuinely easy to get wrong and worth taking our time over.
It is a hands-on day, and a talkative one. We work through two new case studies together, and Ask, Adjust, Attend gets additional practice. One thing runs underneath all of it: we are not here to diagnose. We are here to understand someone well enough to help, and to know when to point them elsewhere. The group is small so there is room for your questions.
One thing before you book
Part 2 follows on from Part 1, Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice for Counsellors, Foundations so that is the one to have done first. We build the shared language and the Ask, Adjust, Attend method there, and this day carries straight on from them, so it will make much more sense with Part 1 behind you.
What you will be able to do afterwards
By the end of the day, you will be able to:
- Recognise and respond to the grief, masking, burnout and rejection sensitivity many late-identified adults bring to counselling.
- Explain how autistic and ADHD traits combine in AuDHD, and why the picture is more than the sum of its parts.
- Recognise giftedness and twice-exceptionality, and the ways they can hide or complicate what you see.
- Work with the overlap between neurodivergence and trauma without rushing to pull the two apart.
- Receive a client's disclosure, or their questioning, well, without confirming, diagnosing or steering.
- Use Ask, Adjust, Attend with real presentations, through two worked case studies.
- Look after your own footing, your boundaries and your energy, and know when to bring something to supervision or refer on.
What you go home with
You will not need to write everything down as we go. Everyone leaves with the full slides, a handout that gathers the day's ideas and all its sources in one place to come back to whenever you like, and a certificate at the end. It counts as 5 hours of verifiable CPD.
How the day runs
- A full day, online and live, ten till four, with a proper lunch break and two shorter ones.
Next Upcoming Date:
Join the waitlist below to be notified first when the next dates open.
Trauma and Neurodivergence: Telling the Overlap Apart
Format | Live 3-Hour Workshop (Online via Zoom) |
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Who It Is For | Trainee and qualified counsellors across all therapeutic modalities (Integrative, Person-Centred, Psychodynamic, CBT, and systemic). |
Fees | Full rate: £65, Early-bird rate: £52 (up to 4 weeks before date), Ratcliff & Brown rate: £45 Early bird rate is available up to 4 weeks before the training date using the code EARLYND |
Overview
Many of the people we see carry both a neurotype and a history of trauma, and the two can look strikingly alike in the room. Sensory overwhelm, shutdown, hypervigilance, a flat account of a hard day: each can belong to a trauma response, to a neurodivergent baseline, or to both at once. This workshop is about telling them apart well enough to support the person, without rushing to separate what is genuinely woven together, and without stepping outside what a counsellor is there to do.
It is practical and case-based. You spend most of the time working real presentations in small groups, rather than listening to theory.
Format
Live 3-hour workshop with two short breaks, online via Zoom. Interactive throughout, and built around real clinical work in addition to clinical theory.
Who it is for
Qualified and trainee counsellors and therapists, any modality. Standalone training, with no prerequisite.
What it covers
- Why trauma and neurodivergence overlap so often, and why the signs blur.
- A working compass for telling a trait from a trauma response, read over time rather than in a single session.
- The cumulative trauma that can come from living as a neurodivergent person in a world not built for it.
- Two worked cases and a set of shorter ones, thought through together.
- Writing notes that affirm the client and stay within your scope.
What you will be able to do afterwards
- Recognise why a neurodivergent client may also be carrying trauma, and why the two are so easily confused
- Use a set of questions, and a simple compass, to build a fuller picture over time without trying to diagnose
- Tell what clinically counts as PTSD or complex trauma from a hard life, and hold that distinction lightly
- Respond in the room, and record what you see in notes that remain affirming towards the client and stay in scope
Note: Counsellors do not diagnose, and the session is clear about that from the start: the aim is to support well, and to know when to refer.
What you go home with
The slides, a companion handout to keep, a certificate, and verifiable 3h CPD.
Next Upcoming Date:
- Saturday, 21st November (9:30 AM – 12:30 PM)
Clinical Framework & Lived Experience
Specialised Training
Facilitated by a practitioner trained through InterGifted, focusing specifically on the psychology, emotional intensity, and relational dynamics of gifted and twice-exceptional adults.
Lived Experience & Affirming Practice
Built from lived experience with late identification, ensuring consent, collaboration, and safety are embedded as the core method rather than external adjustments added to a client.
Professional Accreditation & Delivery
Both parts meet NCPS and BACP CPD requirements, complete with explicit learning outcomes, structured reflective practice, and embedded safeguarding protocols.
Delivered live and online in English or French.
Private Practice / Agency Group Bookings
Available for counselling services, NHS talking therapy teams, and group practices looking to train their full team together. Recommended group size: 12 to 16 participants, due to the participatory nature of the training.
Featured Practitioner Tool: The Map of My Own Mind
A practical clinical tool you can use immediately: The Map of My Own Mind. This framework maps eight everyday dimensions that every mind sits somewhere on, requiring no formal score and no official diagnosis. It functions as a client handout or a self-reflection exercise, offering a gentle, non-pathologising way into the conversation with a client who has never been asked how their mind actually operates.